Diggers start the season off well

A POWERFUL half-century from Diggers opener Pat Whittard has steered his side to a nailbiting 12-run victory over stablemates Exies in Saturday’s day-night clash at Exies Oval.

Whittard’s 51 – the highest total posted by anyone across the opening weekend of first grade matches in Griffith – was enough to excuse a worrying middle order collapse from Diggers as they started the new season with a valuable victory.

He was just one of three Diggers batsmen to reach double figures – the only others were former skipper Nathan Smith and Tom Harper, who both scored 17 runs each.

New captain Jarrod Cahill admitted Diggers would have struggled if not for Whittard’s important half-ton.

“When you get that good a start you really don’t need that good an innings later on, although it does set it up if the other blokes score as well,” he said.

“He’s just in really good form, playing good shots and punishing the bad balls.

“There weren’t too many boundaries – he was mainly just picking the gaps as they presented themselves. It was a really good innings.”

Despite Whittard’s efforts, Diggers went on to post a mediocre total of 135, with the majority of the side’s batsman failing to fly the flag.

That was in no small part due to a solid debut from Exies spinner Adam Connell, who overcame a nervy start to grab 3-30 in his first outing in Griffith.

“He looked dodgy to start with – I think his first four balls were full tosses,” Cahill said.

“But once he started landing them the boys were in a bit of trouble.”

Cahill himself admitted to some nerves in his debut game as skipper, particularly after Diggers’ unspectacular innings gave Exies a more-than-achievable target for victory.